Q: What does it mean if the status is "assign reviewers pending"?
We received major revisions from one of the reviewers and minor from another reviewer. The day we submitted the revised manuscript, its status was "select reviewers pending" and after 5 days, it changed to "assign reviewers pending". Could you please tell me what does it mean? Can the editor leave comments of the previous reviewers and wants a new review by new reviewers? The revised manuscript will be re-reviewed only by reviewers who read the manuscript in the previous round or it can be re-reviewed by new reviewers? Thanks in advance, Ali
It is clear that the journal plans to get your paper reviewed again, which is why you're seeing status changes related to these stages. If reviewers have requested revisions, it is common for journals to get the same set of reviewers to check the revised manuscript.
However, if the reviewers are completely unavailable, then it is possible that the journal will wait until they are available (in which case the second round of review may be delayed). Or, if the reviewers will be unavailable for a long time, the journal may choose to request another reviewer(s) to take a look at your paper.
If you find yourself waiting for a long time to hear from the journal about your revised manuscript, you could follow up with the journal to ask for a status check.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage